A Pitt Professor’s Inside Look into Ukraine

A pro-Russian rally with members of one of the militias believed to have shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

Credit Andrew Butko / Wikipedia

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University of Pittsburgh assistant professor of economics Tymofiy Mylovanov is in Kiev participating in talks with the Prime Minister of Ukraine to try and help stabilize the country after this past winter's events.

"It's a little bit of a surreal feeling. It is as if there was no war. There are no military or uniformed police on the streets and everything was very, very quiet."

To add to this surreal feeling, Ukrainian government officials still can't view the crash site because separatists have closed off access. It's believed that they may be clearing the site so there will be no evidence that they were responsible for shooting down the plane.

The officials appear to have accepted that separatists are responsible for the downed plane and instead of discussing the plane, Mylovanov said officials are focusing on reform efforts.

"I think people were expecting something like that to take place. It is a consistent pattern of resistance from the separatists to all kinds of humanitarian refugees and in this case investigative efforts. This is nothing new for the Ukrainian public or for officials. And in that sense we don't hear much of the frustration with this specific incident, but rather overall frustration with the situation."

The hope from the Ukrainian people is that this situation will reveal the true story of struggle between the citizens and the separatists in East Ukraine.

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What began as a trip to Ukraine to work on a documentary called "Gennadiy," about drug-addicted street children, turned into a near-death experience for Pittsburgh-based filmmakers Filipp Velgach and Steve Hoover.

Velgach and Hoover were targeted by a pro-Russian mob while filming at the end of a demonstration.

“Shortly after we got there, and the rumors started circulating that we were American journalists as opposed to American documentary makers. And therefore suggesting we probably had some sort of political agenda for being there and filming the rally," Velgach said. "The rumors grew more aggressive and people started approaching us, saying we're Americans, and 'All of the issues in Ukraine are because of Americans,' and 'We don't like Americans.' And that escalated pretty quickly into us being attacked."

Ethnomusicologist and anthropologist Adriana Helbig is one of many Pittsburgh residents with Ukrainian heritage. She travels to Kiev each year for family, and for work as an assistant professor of music and a faculty member in Cultural Studies, Women's Studies, Global Studies, and the Center for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.

Helbig shared insight on Ukraine's standoff with Russia including why nations in the European Union are struggling to help Ukraine with this conflict.